Art in America, Feb, 2007

Conrad Shawcross at Victoria Miro
Art in America, Feb, 2007 by Ana Finel Honigman
Photo by beenbrun

At age 28, Conrad Shawcross is fast becoming one of England's most promising and respected young artists for his large, elaborate mechanized wood sculptures. The three works on view at Victoria Miro (and one displayed as part of her private collection in the new viewing area located next to the gallery) demonstrated scientific and mathematical theories born of intellectual curiosity and a desire for discovery. Some of the artist's sculptures successfully perform their functions, while others intentionally fail.

Emanating creaky, arthritic sounds as it moves, Binary Star (all works mentioned 2006), a new kinetic light work, is a two-armed structure. A lit bulb at the end of each arm rapidly rotates, swirls and dips as the base tips forward and back. The two ellipses of light spinning through the air are meant to replicate the orbits of a set of companion stars. Equally engrossing is the still, silent Paradigm (Ode to the Difference Engine), which was located downstairs. Two enormous wooden constructions composed of cogs, pulleys and spools are connected through an elaborate web of rope. Although the work resembles Victorian textile-factory machines, Shawcross intends it as a symbolic homage to analytic philosopher and mathematician Charles Babbage's 1822 difference engine. The large, complicated prototype for the programmable computer was never completed by Babbage. If Shawcross's equally intricate machine were ever to be turned on, the strength of its cords would force the structures to collapse on themselves after five minutes.

Visually elegant and conceptually complex, Space Grid (Mirrored Tetrahedron System) is the realization of a collaboration between Shawcross and a cosmological math ematician. They devised a system consisting of multiple combinations of tetrahedrons that, according to the press release, "tessellate universally in space." Made from thin blond oak beams, the stacks of tetrahedrons, tied to each other with colored yarn, have a humble appearance, somewhat recalling an oversize version of an old-fashioned toy. Space Grid, with its grand premise and fragile, unassuming presence, emanates both majesty and banality. Shawcross's successes and his "failures" are disarmingly poetic monuments. His intellectual enthusiasm is contagious and uplifting.

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